Quote #5

Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieutenant on shore was taking a part in the morning's work. How coldly and pitilessly—with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquility in the men—with what accurately measured interval fell those cruel words:"Attention, company! . . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!" (3.6-7)

Like everything else about the soldiers in the story, the lieutenant's orders are regimented and precise. Through his words, the lieutenant enforces military time.